


Riley’s Special Babysitter

by Queen_Of_The_French_Fries



Series: Special [2]
Category: SCP Foundation
Genre: A little bit of orphan angst in the middle, Babysitting, Being Ethan Is Suffering, Brief mention of kids being tortured and murdered at the beginning, But other than that we good, Gen, Jack babysits a little Riley, Jack has no idea how to deal with kids, Takes place separately from the main “Special” timeline, “Big hard to kill lizards? I can handle that. Kids? Hell naw.”
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2020-11-15 10:50:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20864999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queen_Of_The_French_Fries/pseuds/Queen_Of_The_French_Fries
Summary: A little Riley Williams finds herself being watched over by none other than Jack Bright while Ethan is away. Will things go well or will the house burn down?





	1. Riley’s Special Babysitter

Jack Bright’s current host was Oliver Carson. Male. 28. Caucasian. Dirty blonde hair. Grey eyes. Tall. A bit underweight. Spent a month convincing two kids he was their friend before torturing them for another month and killing them once he got bored of them.

His host’s story is why he felt a sense of irony upon looking at the small girl before him and fully realizing what he had gotten himself into.

To say Ethan Williams was his friend would be a stretch. Like, a huge stretch. But, apparently, everyone thought it’d be fun to play hot potato with the task of watching over his half sister so he could go on a date. A cold here, a family emergency there, dying during a breach with at least one guy. Not even Jack himself was completely sure how the torch was passed to him but here he was. If he was glad about anything, it was that he was looking over a kid who knew how to use the toilet. 

“So, is there anything in particular you like… Ryan?” Was that her name? Something like that.

“Riley.” She corrected him.

“Still kind of a boyish name, but you do you.” Jack said, not liking the feeling of being corrected by a child.

“Ethan says it’s a name for both boys and girls.” Riley sat on the floor and began stacking blocks around a stuffed monkey. Jack walked around her in an attempt to feign curiosity.

“What are you doing?” His tone did absolutely nothing to hide the fact that he didn’t really care about whatever she was up to. Acting wasn’t exactly his forte. 

“Making a house for Muffin.” Riley was clearly just as bored as he was. He picked “Muffin” up, to which Riley’s attitude completely changed, screaming as she rapidly punched his leg with her tiny fists.

“Take it easy, it’s just a doll.” Jack said as he dropped the toy, to which Riley barely managed to catch it.

“Muffin is my second best friend.” Riley mumbled. She then appeared to notice something that made her eyes light up and start reaching upwards. Jack was confused before he noticed she was also reaching towards him, allowing him to put two and two together. She was reaching for the amulet.

“If you want my necklace… no. You can’t wear it. You can’t even touch it.” Jack said. Riley paused in shock that he knew what her intentions were, but quickly snapped out of it and pouted. 

“Why not?” Riley asked. Jack sighed.

“Because I said so.” Jack wasn’t in the mood to think of an explanation that couldn’t be summed up as “you’ll turn into me.” Riley let out a “hmph” before turning on her heel and walking away with her nose turned up in the air. She sure showed him.

Jack pinched the bridge of his nose as he watched Riley stare out the window. You’d think someone who had to deal with two little siblings when he was younger would know how to deal with a child. But handling the younger siblings is usually the oldest child’s job. And Jack was not the oldest child. So, he only had his recent interactions with TJ in his… current mental state to go off of when it came to kids her age. And Riley had so far proved herself to be nothing like TJ. More whiny, more likely to hit you, and more likely to talk back at you like she owned the place. Okay, he was in her house, but his point still stands with that last one.

After a few minutes, Riley appeared to get bored of staring out the window, and went down the hall to her room. Jack was content with the idea of letting the child spend the night in her room and only checking on her to bring food. At least until around fifteen minutes later, when he heard the sound of crying from her room. He hoped that he wouldn’t have to take a trip to the hospital as he opened the door, not even bothering to knock.

Riley was sat in front of the TV, crying as she buried her face in Muffin’s head. Jack walked in and stood behind her so he could see what she was watching. The sight before him was that of a cartoon child sadly walking around as a song that honestly sounded kind of sappy to Jack played in the background.

“Why are you crying?” Jack asked. Riley looked up at him, her face red as it was covered in tears, drool, and snot.

“I WANT A MOM TOO!” Riley shouted. Jack’s eyes widened a little. It wasn’t a surprise that Riley didn’t have parents, considering she was living with her half brother and all, but he assumed she wasn’t old enough to really understand what a lack of parents meant. Or maybe he’s even worse at understanding kids than he thought. Either way, here she was bawling her eyes out over the fact that she didn’t have a mom, and using his pants to blow her nose. It was the latter fact that caused Jack to shake his leg until she fell back and leave the room only to return shortly afterwards with a box of tissues and a bowl of popcorn.

“Don’t cry, kid. It’s annoying.” Jack said before he began to leave the room again. However, he stopped when he felt a tug on his shirt. He looked down to see Riley had gotten up and was now clutching his shirt tightly as though he would cease to exist if she let go.

“Please… don’t go…” Riley said between hiccups. Jack sighed, sat on the floor next to her, and shoved a handful of popcorn into his mouth. 

By the time the movie was over, Riley had nearly cried again three times, but Jack was around to calm her down when this happened. He had to admit, there were some pretty emotional scenes for a movie aimed at little kids. In fact, if he had viewed it during an earlier time in his life, he might’ve shed a tear or two. 

“I’m hungry…” Riley whined as she rubbed her stomach. This wasn’t surprising, considering they not only ran out of popcorn awhile ago, but Jack had unknowingly hogged most of it.

“Well, what do you want for dinner?” Jack asked. Riley was silent for a moment, appearing in deep thought.

“If I could, I’d have cake and ice cream.” Riley said as she grabbed her ankles and lightly adjusted the position of her feet. Jack snickered.

“Yeah, me too…” Suddenly, a realization struck Jack as though it had punched him in the face. With a new surge of energy, Jack had gotten up, put Riley on his shoulders, ran across the hall to the front door which he practically swung open, and began running down the street so fast that Riley was scared that she’d fall.

“WHERE ARE WE GOING!?” Riley yelled as she gripped his hair, which did little to slow down the immortal.

“I’VE ONLY JUST NOW REALIZED THAT NOBODY CAN STOP ME FROM HAVING WHATEVER I WANT FOR DINNER! TONIGHT, WE DINE LIKE THE RULERS OF CANDYLAND!” Jack proclaimed to the world. Riley’s eyes lit up as all fear left her body. She joined his excitement as she pumped her fists in the air and let out a screech of victory.

Was Jack reckless for leaving the door open? Yes. Luckily, pretty much nobody was around for there to be any serious consequences. Which means pretty much nobody was around to see a grown man excitedly pushing a shopping cart full of various junk foods and one little girl towards the house. Jack and Riley stopped before going back and forth as they got the food into the house. Once everything was inside, Jack closed the door, locked it, and donned a wicked smile as he saw Riley practically ripping a box of chocolates open.

After that, it was all a blur.

Jack woke up when he felt someone forcefully turn his head. Then he felt something move around on his cheek. Going by the smell it was… a marker? He looked over to see Riley doodling on his face. When she realized he was awake, she dropped the marker and ran away.

“I’M SORRY! I’M SORRY! I’M SORRY! I’M SORRY!” Riley yelled before running into her room. Jack went to go after her, but stopped once he felt a sharp pain in his head.

“I thought getting hangovers from sugar was only a thing in cartoons…” Jack stumbled into the bathroom to see just what Riley had drawn on his face. Even when he looked in the mirror, he didn’t really know what she was supposed to be drawing. It just seemed like a bunch of random shapes and lines across his face in a variety of colors. But, given how young Riley is and the fact that she’s most likely still on a sugar high, it was highly unlikely that her drawings were meant to mean something anyways. All he knew was that it was going to be a bitch to wash it off. 

It was then that Jack had an idea. Going to the living room, Jack picked up Riley’s markers before making his way to her room. He walked in without knocking and saw Riley jumping on the bed.

“Down. Now.” Jack’s tone was stern enough for Riley to pretty much freeze and land on her backside. Jack put the amulet under his shirt because, knowing what he was about to do, Riley would most likely struggle and grab onto it if he didn’t. She caught sight of the markers in his hand and attempted to make a run for it, but Jack shoved her to the ground and held her by her throat, pinning her to the floor. Putting one of the markers in his mouth, he managed to pull the cap off.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Riley’s screams were drowned out as Jack laughed like a madman as he drew on her face.

It was then that he heard the front door open.

Jack and Riley both slowly looked over to see a horrified Ethan Williams. There was complete silence as Ethan took in the sight of various boxes and wrappers strewn around the house and Jack Bright on top of his little sister as he drew on her face, while also being covered in face doodles himself. After what felt like an eternity passed, Ethan broke the silence.

“WHAT HAPPENED HERE!?”

Jack smiled, stood up, and scooped up Riley.

“Your sister is weird. But the fun kind of weird. I like her.”

An hour later, Ethan was frantically wiping the words “Jack Bright Rulez” off Riley’s forehead after cleaning up the mess that had been made while he was away. The sickness of eating so much junk food appeared to finally set in for Riley, who looked like she could barf at any second. She groggily looked up at her older brother and smiled rather weakly.

“Can he be our new dad?”

“No!”


	2. Jack’s Special Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was originally going to write something entirely different but I found it way too depressing so I wrote a quick little part two for this instead.

Gretel was a kind old woman. But she was also a sleepy one. Not even the sound of the phone ringing could wake her up. This meant that Riley had to stand up on a chair and pick up the phone herself. 

“Hello?” Riley asked.

“Riley! How are you, kiddo?” The voice of Riley’s babysitter from the previous week came through the other side of the phone.

“I’m okay. How are you?” It wasn’t until the words left her mouth that she noticed what sounded like Ethan protesting about something in the background.

“Oh, I’m just swell! Hey, maybe if things aren’t too busy later, I can-“ The call abruptly ended. Riley shrugged and hung up the phone.

Meanwhile, Ethan shoved his phone into his pocket as he felt what was once a minor headache practically cause his brain to start throbbing. 

“You’re so stubborn.” It was at this moment that Ethan Williams became one of the few people to see Jack Bright pout. Ethan quickly closed his eyes and did his best to erase what he just saw from his mind.

“Yeah. Okay. Look, I’m… flattered that you apparently want to come to my house so badly, but there really isn’t a reason for you to come over. I’m sorry.” Ethan said. He attempted to get to the door, but Jack quickly stepped in front of him.

“Just a casual visit between friends?” Jack suggested. Ethan’s brain seemed to shut down for a good few seconds, but he quickly composed himself.

“We aren’t friends. You barely know me.” Ethan retorted. The smile on Jack’s face didn’t even waver, making Ethan even more unnerved.

“Let’s see… your middle name is Austin. You used to wear glasses but switched to contacts after the birth of your sister. You had your first kiss behind a McDonald’s when you were fourteen.” Jack said as he held up a finger for each fact, leaving Ethan completely flabbergasted. 

That wasn’t friendship. That was just creepy.

“Wow, you’re so… I don’t know. But I really have to go.” Ethan said. He once again attempted to go around the immortal, but it was clear that the latter wasn’t giving up. 

“Come on. This is the first time I’ve genuinely enjoyed someone’s company in the last fifty years, and I’m going to become unrecognizable to the kid sooner or later. Let me have this.” Jack insisted. 

“I’m sorry. But you gave her junk food which made her go into a sugar high, trashed my house while you were also under a sugar high, and then scribbled all over her face. Once again, I’m sorry, but-“

“Off topic, but I think this could really help bring out your eyes.” Jack cut Ethan off, tapping the amulet around his neck as he spoke.

Ethan went silent.

That evening, all he could do was watch as Jack and Riley worked on a jigsaw puzzle together at the kitchen table. 

“Your hair’s uneven.” Jack said.

“Oh! I was playing with my friend Hibiki, when this girl named Ruby asked if she could play with us. I said no, and then she came back with scissors and started cutting my hair.” Riley explained.

“She…. She's going to the barber on Sunday.” Ethan said in response to the stare he got from Jack. 

“My babysitter likes it anyways.” Riley said.

“The old woman?” Jack asked. Riley shook her head.

“No, my other one. He’s a boy who’s name is… I don’t remember. He only shows up when I’m in my room while Gretel’s asleep.” Riley said as Ethan mouthed the words “imaginary friend.” It was then that the phone rang. Jack and Riley continued to work on the puzzle, leaving Ethan to pick up the phone.

“Hello?” Ethan asked.

“Can I see what the buzz around your place is? If Bright wants in, it’s gotta be interesting.” The voice on the other end sent chills down Ethan’s spine.

“Wha-!? Who is this!?” Ethan whisper-yelled as to not alert Riley or Jack. He immediately hung up once all he got was the sound of an A major chord on a ukulele as a response. Nope.


End file.
